MeshViewer

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ResourceEditor tool is deprecated and no longer supported. We can't guarantee the stable work of the tool.

MeshViewer is a robust tool used for fast preview of the exported geometry, animation and textures. It allows for converting loaded data into Unigine supported formats. Besides that, it has a set of useful features to help artists in optimization of created models.

Save the textured model as a project. After that, the set up model can be loaded in one click.

Display Modes

Models can be operated in three display modes. To switch between them, choose the mode in the drop-down list in the upper left corner of a window:

Mesh - display a loaded mesh with applied textures in the viewport.

TexCoord 0 - display the first UV set.

TexCoord 1 - display the second UV set.

The Mesh and the TexCoord 0 Modes

Current Animation

If the model contains animation, it can be operated in different animation modes. To switch between them, choose the mode in the drop-down list in the upper left corner of a window, next to the Display mode list:

Bind pose - display a loaded mesh in the bind animation pose.

The other poses, if exist, will be displayed in the drop-down list under the Bind pose option.

Mesh Options

Mesh options are present at the right side of the MeshViewer window:

Load
Mesh

Load a model stored in any of supported formats:

Unigine mesh (.mesh)

Unigine animation (.anim)

Unigine skinned mesh (.smesh)

Unigine skinned mesh animation (.sanim)

Wavefront (.obj)

COLLADA (.dae)

Loading options available in the opened dialog window:

Flip Y/Z axes and invert Y axis - load the model with the proper orientation in Unigine coordinate system. If models were initially created in one of the following 3D packages, they require this option to be enabled:

If no surfaces are selected, the whole mesh (all non-hidden surfaces) will be saved. If one or several separate surfaces are selected (for multiple selection hold Shift or Ctrl), only specified geometry will be saved into the file. The same options as for loading are used for saving.

Also note that if the
Vertex cache optimization option was enabled when loading a mesh, there is no need to enable it again. Remember, however, that this optimization should be used on any step: either when the model is exported from 3D editor, loaded into MeshViewer or saved.

Notice

Though you can save animation using this option, there is a special option, Save Anim, made for quick and convenient animation saving.

Current animation only - save only the current animation with specified animation range.

Load
Proj

Load a saved MeshViewer project (.proj file), which contains a model, textures and all settings made for them.

Save
Proj

Save a mesh with all its settings as a project (into a .proj file). This file contains a path to the mesh file and settings made for mesh surfaces (textures, parameters and flags). After being saved, a mesh can be quickly loaded.

Notice

Note that the project with the applied textures and surfaces cannot be exported to Unigine engine. MeshViewer is used for preview purposes only.

Export
Mesh

Save the model geometry without animation and bones into a .mesh file. The same options as for loading are used for saving. Also note that:

If one or several separate surfaces are selected (by holding Shift or Ctrl), only they will be saved rather than the whole model.

Animated model will be exported as a simple static geometry as it is displayed in the current animation frame.

Export
Node

Save the model with assigned textures into the .node and the .mat files. You can select the following options while exporting:

Parent Material - parent material for the material being exported.

Material Prefix - prefix to the material being exported.

Diffuse Texture - add a diffuse texture.

Normal Texture - add a normal texture.

Specular Texture - add a specular texture.

Material Export - name of the material being exported.

Node Export - name of the node being exported.

Smooth
Mesh

Smooth all curving parts of mesh. This option does not affect the geometry, but only the way the mesh is shaded. If one or several separate surfaces are selected (by holding Shift or Ctrl), only they will be smoothed rather than the whole model. The smoothing options are:

Angle - a threshold angle for smoothing. If an angle between two polygons is smaller than the set threshold angle, they are smoothed. If it is unchecked, normals of all polygons are merged. The mesh will have no sharp edges — it will be all smooth. Unckecking Angle option is the same as setting threshold angle to 180 degrees. If the Angle is set to 0 degrees, no polygons are smoothed. Each polygon face will be shaded independently, resulting in a sharp and edgy appearance. The higher the angle (up to the maximum of 180 degrees), the more polygons are smoothed, as the angle between their faces is smaller then the threshold one.

Back to front - render mesh polygons in the back-to-front order (from peripheral to central polygons).

Notice

For the difference between these rendering methods to be seen, enable the Overlaps option.

Reload All

Reload all resources (mesh and its textures). This option does not affect set up parameters for surfaces and textures.

Notice

You can also reload resources by pressing Ctrl+R.

Visualization Options

The model can be displayed in the different ways. The set of visualizations options is the following:

Info

Display information about the mesh and one selected surface in the upper left corner of the viewport. Such data is shown as:

Name /Surface - name of the mesh/surface.

Surfaces - number of surfaces.

Vertices - number of coordinate/triangle vertices.

Triangles - number of triangles.

Memory - taken system/video memory space.

Min and Max - coordinates of the minimum and maximum points of the axis-aligned bounding box.
.

Center - bounding sphere center coordinates.

Radius - bounding sphere radius.

Notice

You can also enable the option by pressing I.

Compass

Enable a XYZ compass in the upper right corner of the viewport.

Notice

You can also enable the option by pressing C.

Triangles

Show the base grid plane, as well as triangles of the mesh (its selected surfaces) or a wireframe (if enabled).

Notice

You can also enable the option by pressing T.

Edges

Show texture edges for the mesh (or its selected surfaces) in red.

Seams

Show texture seams for the mesh (or its selected surfaces) in green.

Tangent

Show the tangent space at polygon vertices of the mesh (or its selected surfaces). It represents texturing coordinates for face of each polygon with the triple of vectors: U, V and normal vector that is always perpendicular to the face itself.

This option is useful for detecting tangent space discontinuities, which may cause lighting artifacts. In areas where adjacent polygons have a different tangent space, there will be an noticeable edge; in areas where tangent space is the same, there will be a smoothly curved surface.

Tangent space: U, V and Normal

Overlaps

Show overlaps in UV coordinates in different shades of red. The more saturated is the color, the more overlaps there are in the given point.

Overlaps in UV coordinates

Bones

Show bones of the mesh.

Names

Show names of the bones.

Quaternions

Use dual quaternions for the skinned mesh. When quaternions are used instead of simple matrices to describe rotation and position of vertices, it allows to reduce a twisting artifact between two bones, which is often seen at shoulder joints of characters. With dual quaternions character joints do not look deformed like a candy wrapper.

Disabled quaternions

Enabled quaternions

Surfaces

Show a dialog window with a list of surfaces and their visualization parameters.

The Surfaces window has the following options:

List of the available surfaces. Multiple selection by holding Shift or Ctrl is supported.

Name - edit the surface name.

Target - choose the morph target in the drop-down list, if there are any.

Transform - specify the texture coordinates transformation:

The first two fields set the scale factors to the X and Y axes respectively.

The third and the fourth fields set the offset factor to the X and Y axes. The values should be non-integer to produce a visible offset.

Enabled - enable the chosen surface.

Bound Box - display the bounding box enclosing the surface.

Wireframe - enable the wireframe view for the surface. This option is in effect only when Triangles are enabled as well.